The IAA at Hannover traditionally is the platform every two years for the announcement of the International Truck of the Year awards, which are judged by a panel of European commercial vehicle journalists.
The Truck of the Year award and its associated gongs for van, bus and innovations are always contentious, and rightly so, given they are awarded often before the vehicles are actually launched or have been driven by the judges.
This happened at the last IAA four years ago when Ford’s Turkish built F-Max range of heavy duty trucks, which had only just been launched and were not even available in Europe at that stage, won the top gong. So even if the truck turns out to be a dud on the road and in service over time, it can still be declared International Truck of the Year. The other contradiction is that the Truck of the Year is only presented every two years.
The Truck of the Year judging group is made up of 34 commercial vehicle journalists and magazines worldwide with a claimed total readership of more than 1.1 million truck drivers. Australia has one representative on the panel.
This year the top Truck award went to DAF for its latest XG model, which was front and centre on the Paccar brand’s stand, , while Daimler claimed the gong for Truck Innovation of the Year for its eActros long range, which made its debut at the IAA.
The Van of the Year award was presented to Vokswagen for its stunning new take on its venerable ‘Kombi’ van, the all-electric ID. Buzz. The panel has said that the main criteria for nominating and selecting a van as the International Van of the Year is its ‘contribution to higher efficiency, safety, environmental and sustainability standards when transporting light goods by road’ and this year for the first time the finalists all had electric transmission, which paves the way for the future”
Meantime the Bus of the Year was presented to MAN for its Lion City E bus
